Illiberal Democrat

A chastened party has chosen a maverick leader. Labour must not do the same

Friday July 17 2015, 1.01am, The Times

Friday July 17 2015, 1.01am, The Times

It was appropriate that Tim Farron was announced as the Liberal Democrats’ new leader on Twitter. The names of all the party’s MPs can now fit in a single tweet, with 30 characters to spare. Mr Farron defeated his only rival for the leadership, the former health minister Norman Lamb, by a decent margin. He can now expect a good deal more scrutiny of his beliefs, even though given the shrivelled Westminster contingent he leads, they are unlikely to sway national debate.

This may be a good thing, for the new Lib Dem leader is not in all respects a liberal. An evangelical Christian since his teenage years, he believes that every word written in the Bible is literal truth, that God has a precise